GL: The WBO recently denied your protest for an immediate rematch with Shannon Briggs. What are your thoughts on their ruling? "I don't know what I need to say, on that night this is what was going on and I will tell you the truth. He hit me and the first knockdown he caught me with a good shot and it was a knockdown, but then I got up he caught me with a right hand and I took it perfectly. I was out of balance and I went into the ropes and I just fell throught the ropes because they were loose and I was out of balance. When I was outside of the ring people were around telling me to stay down and not to worry about it, and at that moment I didn't understand what was going on around me. I was like what the hell is going on with all this. I was very upset right away once I realized what happened. The referee stopped the fight and bell didn't ring for seven seconds until after the round should have ended."

GL: Your manager has down everything in his power to try and get a rematch but since that protest failed, will you petition to get yourself enforced as the mandatory to the winner of Briggs-Ibragimov?

Sergei Liakhovich: "This is my goal, to get that fight. The fight that I want is Shannon Briggs, even if he no longer has the title, I want to fight him."

GL: You know what the problem with that is, the fight with Briggs was not exciting. I understand what you're saying about how the twelfth round played out, but since the fight was so boring do you think people want to see that rematch?

SL: "I don't know, but I agree it's not an exciting fight. I don't want to look for any excused, but people have seen me before and people who have seen me should know that wasn't me fighting in that ring. I had problems in the ring that night and next time when I fight I will be 100%. On that night, nobody knows this, but I fought Shannon Briggs with no hands and broken rib. It happened in sparring before I came to camp I had a rib injury and one guy I was sparring with caught me there and you know shit happens."

GL: You certainly didn't look like yourself. Your fight with Brewster is a finalist for fight of the year and the Briggs fight is a finalist for worst fight of the year.

SL: (laughs) "Yeah, it's true. People who know and love boxing saw everything and they know on that night I was not right. I'm telling you this, with my no hands and broken rib I didn't do a bad job on that night. I was winning the fight on the judges cards."

GL: If you can't get Briggs back into the ring what will be the gameplan for 2007?

SL: "I'm ready to fight right now so to get back into the ring as soon as possible is very important to me. I"ve been working with my strength coaches and I'm feeling good right now. For the five weeks before the fight all I did was a little bit of boxing and a lot of running."

GL: Do you think Ibragimov deserves a fight with Briggs?

SL: "Obviosuly my opinion is he does not. It was a big surprise to me that they made this guy #1 in the WBO because he had a draw before that. I don't know what to say about that, sometimes you know what's going on but you don't want to say it."

GL: Is there anything you'd like to say in closing?

SL: "Sergei Liakhovich is not done. Sometimes these things happen and we'll see you next year. I will be much stronger, faster and better than ever before."

M

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